Provide overview of attitude so that those in the audience know what we mean when discussing a 100 percent commitment.

First steps (10 minutes):

Take roll of participants.

Facilitator discusses his personal life, shares why and how he renews his commitment to living a values-based, goal-oriented life in order to beat the odds and succeed after imprisonment.

Goals and Objectives (5 minutes):

Explain meaning of a 100 percent commitment to success. Rely upon a best-in-class role model from sports, business, politics, or any other area of life to illustrate how all people who succeed or overcome challenges and become great in any area of their life live with this 100 percent commitment to succeed.

Expected Learning Outcomes (5 minutes):

Describe for participants that we expect them to help us persuade employers of their 100 percent commitment to living as law-abiding, contributing citizens. Their participation in the Straight-A Guide training program provides us with the tools we need to advocate on their behalf.

Preliminary introduction (5 minutes):

Facilitator opens discussion by asking one participant to elaborate on what he perceives as a commitment to living in accordance with values he identifies as being central to his life (recall sheet from previous class).

Facilitator engages class in discussion on effectiveness of interview, specifically identifying how expressions of 100 percent commitment to success advanced the candidate in the hiring process:

What worked?

What didn’t work?

Lesson #4: Handout on Interview Questions

Tell me about yourself.

Give me some background on your experience.

Help me understand the decisions that led to your criminal conviction.

Describe for me what is different in your life today from the day that you made those decisions.

Tell me about your closest friend.

Why are you interested in a job that pays an entry-level wage?

What steps are you willing to take for me to overlook your criminal record and hire you?

Do you have what it takes to become a Straight-A Guide Sales Representative?

At the Straight-A Guide, we work to help offenders and at-risk youth prepare for law-abiding lives. We offer a video-based program, complete with training curriculums and literature. If you'd like to work with us in spreading the message of values-based, goal-oriented living, then join our sales organization. Together, we'll change the world!

Journal of events

Media

Contact me to help your audience understand why every citizen has an interest in reforming America’s criminal justice system. I concluded 26 years of imprisonment on August 12, 2013. Since then I've been working on various levels to improve outcomes from our nation's prison system.